Chronox
by hanhanrockstar
Summary: Things are turning out to be a bit more eventful than planned when the Doctor takes Clara to see Earth in the future. Instead of a nice visit to future Earth, they get an alien trying to take over the world with a video game! (Doctor Who Oneshot)


_Slam!_ The door to the TARDIS shut with a jolt as the Doctor and Clara ran inside, grinning and out of breath. "That," Clara said between breaths, "Was a close one!"

"Indeed it was," the Doctor responded, leaning against the railing of one of the many staircases inside the TARDIS. "Who knew outrunning a saber-toothed tiger would be so difficult?"

"Five saber-toothed tigers," Clara corrected. The Doctor cracked a smile, then stood up and walked to the control panel.

"So," he began. "Where to go next... any ideas, Clara?"

Clara thought for a moment, then stated promptly, "Earth. In the future. We went to the past and saw a bunch of extinct animals. Now I'd like to see the future."

The Doctor nodded. "Alright, I guess we could do that." He pushed a few buttons and pulled a lever or two on the panel, causing some lights to flash around the TARDIS. "To year 2341!" He exclaimed while the TARDIS made that familiar whirring noise.

Clara turned back to the doors and swiftly opened them. She peeked outside, and her eyes grew wide as she took in the scene before her.

They had landed in a huge city filled with skyscrapers that seemed to rise above the clouds. There was a huge mass of people, nearly everyone walking in one general direction. There was a blue sky up above and lots of large screens advertising one product or another. It was quite similar to Times Square in New York, but even more high-tech and futuristic.

The Doctor and Clara stepped out into the frenzy of people, most looking pretty normal. There were some oddballs, though. Folks that just didn't look completely human. "Yeah, there are a couple aliens here and there. Or maybe they're just in costume, who knows?" The Doctor told Clara gleefully as he noticed her taking in everyone. He was glad that she'd chosen to come see the future. It was a great place, most of the time. Clara raised her eyebrows at the Doctor, then walked out into the crowd.

_I wonder where everyone's going,_ Clara thought. She couldn't hear anything over the many conversations all going on at once. Everything was jumbled together into one big pile of words. "Well, are you coming?" She shouted to the Doctor. She hoped he could hear her despite of all the noise. He must have gotten the message, or had just decided to follow on his own accord.

"Do you know where everyone is headed?" Clara asked the Doctor once he was walking beside her. The crowd had thinned a little bit, so they could talk now without much difficulty.

"Nope, not a clue." The Doctor answered. "But I say we find out!"

A series of four loud beeping noises sounded across the area, and everyone fell silent. Then a female voice comes from loudspeakers hidden out of view from everyone. Clara shot a quizzical look at the Doctor, and his only response was a shrug.

"Attention to all planning to attend the release party of the game Chronox Mayhem, attention: the event will be starting in no less than five minutes. You will not be allowed entry unless on time."

"Well that seems a bit harsh," Clara whispered to the Doctor, but he couldn't answer because of the multiple people shushing them.

"Electra CEO Dia will be presenting. Once again, it begins in five minutes." With that, the loudspeakers fell silent and everyone began racing to and fro once more.

"A video game release party? That's what everyone is so excited about?" Clara mused.

"Well, duh." A voice said. "Are you new here or somethin'?" The pair turned around and saw a teenage boy looking at them like they were just about the strangest thing he's ever seen.

He had brown hair that was kind of long, and it stuck up in random places. He held a skateboard in one hand and a black baseball cap in the other. His eyes were hazel, and he had glasses that were starting to slip down his nose. He wasn't bothering to push them up, though. He looked to be about fifteen years old.

"Well, who might you be?" The Doctor asked. The boy quickly put his hat on his head and answered, "My name's Niko. Why do you care?"

"Because you seem important." The Doctor stated promptly.

Niko snorted. "Important? Sure..." He said sarcastically. "Look, are you going to the release party or not? If so, come on. There ain't much time left." Niko put his skateboard on the ground and rode off in the direction of the release party. "Oh come on, everyone is important!" The Doctor said, but Niko didn't hear him.

Clara and the Doctor looked at each other for a second, then concluded, _eh, why not? _Then followed Niko through the crowd. It only took a minute until they were gathered outside the doors to a large dome-shaped building. It was made out of shiny metal and the glare from the sunlight made it hard to look at. A big sign was next to it read _Electra Dome_. Niko saw that the pair looked slightly confused, and said, "Electra is the company making Chronox Mayhem. It practically runs half the world – it makes tons of products and they're everywhere." Then he entered the building through automatic sliding doors.

"That sounds like a recipe for disaster," Clara said, arms crossed.

"I agree. So, how about we check it out!? Geronimo!" The Doctor cheered, then raced inside, a few footsteps behind Niko. Clara strode in not far behind him.

The inside of the building was a lot like the outside: massive and metallic. There must have been hundreds of people all gathered in the room, and yet there was still space to walk around with room for a gigantic stage in the middle of it all. The stage was oddly deserted except for some computer monitors and quite a lot of wire. There was a digital clock above the entrance, which Clara turned around to look at and check the time. It read 4:59.

"Assuming this thing starts at five, we've got one minute. We should probably sit down," She casually told the Doctor, gesturing to the metal bleachers that were beginning to fill with people of all shapes and sizes. The Doctor nodded, and they found a seat. To their surprise, Niko slid into the seat beside them. They didn't question it, though.

Suddenly the lights dimmed except for those shining on the stage. A tall woman with brown hair twisted up into a bun stepped onto the stage, seeming to come out of nowhere. She wore a black dress that went down to a bit above her knees and black high heels. She stepped up to the microphone and tapped it to test that it was working.

"Welcome," She said. Her voice sounded smooth and her voice didn't quiver in the slightest. Despite that, something seemed... off about her. "I am Dia, CEO of Electra. As you all know, we are releasing a new game today: Chronox Mayhem." People clapped and cheered in the audience.

"Yes, thank you." Dia acknowledged the listeners. "It is a science fiction/fantasy game where you are the hero if you are strong enough. I know it sounds like every other video game on the market, but there is something about Chronox Mayhem that sets it apart. What is it? Well, how about we find out."

Dia removed the microphone from its stand and started pacing across the stage. "Why don't some of you come up and try out the game for yourselves? Show everyone what it's all about?" She grinned, scanning across the audience. Excited whispers grew louder as people discussed this new development.

"I bet she's up to something," Clara whispered to the Doctor. Niko was smiling like a maniac.

"This is great!" He said excitedly, tapping his seat with his fingers rapidly. "This is so great! If I get picked, oh man oh man, all of my friends will be so jealous!" He went on talking to no one in particular about what could happen. Clara and the Doctor, they both thought that this wouldn't end well.

"Should we get out of here?" Clara hissed to the Doctor, but he shook his head. "These people might need help if things get bad."

"You," Dia said, silencing everyone. "You three." She was pointing at the Doctor, Clara, and Niko. "Come on up now. Nothing to be afraid of." A chorus of _aw, man_ and _lucky them! _Echoed from the audience, all looking at the trio. Niko was ecstatic, but the other two, not so much.

"Uh, I think we'd rather not, thanks," Clara stammered, but Dia wasn't taking no for an answer.

"Oh, come on now. This will be fun. Get up here!"

Almost against their will, the Doctor and Clara got up and walked on stage. Niko had already raced up and was waiting for them, barely able to contain himself.

"Excellent," Dia said, walking over to one of the many monitors and turning it on. The screen flickered to life and showed a start game screen. "It's touchscreen, so just go up and press start. It doesn't matter who, someone just do it."

Almost in the blink of an eye, Niko was up there and pressing his finger on the screen where the word _start_ was.

"Niko, wait!" Clara started to warn him, but she couldn't finish because they weren't in the metal dome anymore. They were standing in a dark room, a kitchen by the looks of it. The only thing they could hear was their own breathing.

The three didn't move at all. Niko's glee had faded to something more like fear. "Where are we? What just happened?" he asked, and it was obvious that he had many more questions on mind.

"I think we got transported inside the game," Clara said, looking around the room. She walked over to the window and pushed the curtains aside to see what it was like outside. It looked like it was nighttime, and there were some trees in the yard.

"Right you are, dear," A voice cackled, and they knew right away it was the voice of Dia. A hologram fizzled to life in from of them, and they could see the inside of the dome and Dia. Based on the looks of the audience, they could see the Doctor, Clara, and Niko as well.

"You can't escape," She grinned evilly at the three. "The same goes for all of you," She looked back at the audience. "The doors are locked and I have guards stationed at every entrance."

The Doctor grew very serious all of a sudden, and said, "Don't worry, we'll get out of here and save you. For now, stay calm!" The viewers could hear him, but they ignored the "stay calm" and "don't worry" of his message.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Doctor," Dia said.

"Doctor, you never told anyone here your name," Clara hissed out of the corner of her mouth. "So why does she know who you are?"

"Alright look, stop the chit-chat." Dia said fiercely. "Two things you should know about this game: one, to escape, you need to win – and get past me. Two, if you die in game, it's game over. Not just for you, but for everyone. And if you die, you won't be coming back, I'll promise you that." She sneered darkly and the hologram started to fade away. "Good luck," were the last words she uttered before the image completely faded and they were left in silence once more.

"Oh my God, what did I get myself into..." Niko moaned, slumping against the wall with his head in his hands.

The Doctor was about to say something to Niko, but got interrupted by a loud thump coming from above them.

"What was that?" Clara asked, whirling around to face the hallway where he staircase was, but the Doctor was already headed off to the upper level of the house. Clara was close behind, and called out, "Come on, Niko! It's all or nothing, and I know that you want to get out of here." She didn't look back to see if he followed or not.

"Hello," a teenage girl said when they entered. Her hair was messy and dark, and she had an unusual amount of weapons on her, including swords, knives, and maybe even a gun or two. "Are you..." She paused for a moment, thinking. "The Doctor, Clara, and Niko?"

"Yes we are," The Doctor replied. The teenager was sitting atop a wooden desk. They were in what looked to be an office or study. "Who are you?"

The girl hopped down from the desk. "The name's Tara. Let's cut to the chase: I'm from the future."

The Doctor smiled. "Really? We're from the past! Well, Clara and I are. He just kind of..." He took a moment to find the right words to describe how Niko joined them. "Showed up."

"Uh-huh," Tara cut him off, clearly not interested. "Look, we don't have much time." She pulled out a glowing blue orb from a messenger bag laying on the desk. "This is a time machine. We need to go two hundred years into the future. Everything has gone wrong and the world is on the brink of destruction. You three are the only ones who can save it." She held it out. "Everyone, put one hand on the top half of the orb."

"Cool," Niko said as he placed his hand on the orb. "Hey, what did you mean by 'from the past?' Was that literal, or are you just messing around?"

"It's true; we're from about 200 or so years ago." Clara said. "Well, I am." Clara pointed a finger at the Doctor. "He's from who-knows-where. And, last I checked, somewhere around 900 years old?"

"Probably closer to 1000," the Doctor said. Tara sighed. "You will never shut up, will you?" She then pushed a button on the exterior of the orb. There was a loud _whoosh_, and the entire scene blurred. A second later, they were in an entirely different place. A very broken-down community appeared before them. It was still nighttime, but the sky had an odd orange-y tint to it.

"I think I prefer the TARDIS," Clara said as she stepped away from the orb. The Doctor nodded in agreement.

"Welcome to future Earth," Tara said. "It's not really a great place to be."

"Dang..." Niko said, looking around. "I can tell." He looked at Tara, eyes the weapons in particular. "Hey, any chance I could get some of those sweet swords?"

"In due time. There is an evil king that has set a dragon loose across the land. We need to fight it and protect the people of this land. Our final goal: overthrow the king. But believe me, it won't be easy. You'll find everything you'll need using this map," Tara said, holding out three copies of the map. Everyone took a copy. Clara was the first one to open it, and she raised her eyebrows as she scanned over it.

"Looks a bit complicated," she said.

"Really?" Niko asked, somewhat surprised. "This is simple! It's the typical format for maps in video games. I can show you all the way."

"I won't be coming. I have other business to attend to." Tara said, then walked off without another word.

"Well, come on. This dragon isn't going to slay itself!" Niko said, then walked off. "Man, I wish I had my skateboard," He muttered under his breath.

The Doctor and Clara followed, and they talked a bit as Niko led the way.

"Sure is great this kid tagged along, or else we might be totally lost," Clara said.

"We would've figured it out in the end," the Doctor answered. "But this will help us get through much faster."

"Agreed."

"There's the town center," Niko called out, pointed at a run-down bunch of shacks. They could see a huge castle in the distance, and there were dark shapes surrounding it in the air. They were clearly dragons.

There were only two or three people in the town center, and they all looked afraid of the trio. An elderly man eyed them warily, while a little girl sat on the ground in tears. The last person looked like bad news, and she looked like she could deal a great amount of damage to anyone that crossed her.

"Who should we talk to?" Clara asked the others, and they both answered at the same time.

"The little girl," said the Doctor, while Niko said "That fighter chick." The two looked at each other, Niko looking defensive, the Doctor thoughtful.

"Look, we can talk to them both. Let's go to the little girl first, okay?" Clara said.

"Looks like someone beat you to 'er," Niko said, nodding his head in the direction of the little girl. The fighter girl, who they could now see was missing half of her left arm, was kneeling down by the little girl trying to comfort her.

"Well, at least now we can talk to both of them faster." Clara said, leading the other two over to where the girls were.

"Hello there," The Doctor said, crouching in front of the young girl. "What happened?" The young girl buried her face in her hands, blonde ponytails falling in front of her face. She didn't answer. The other girl did, and looked coldly at the three.

"This is none of your business." She scowled defensively and put her arm around the little girl. "What happens to my sister and me doesn't concern you. Now get out of here before I make you."

"Aw, come on. At least tell us your name!" Niko whined, but one look from the girl shut him up. The fact that she had her hand right by the knife in her belt helped.

"It's not worth it," Niko muttered, turning away. "Let's talk to the old guy. I doubt he'll help, but it's worth a shot."

They walked over to the elderly man and Clara was the first to speak. "Hello," she greeted him.

"Can I help you?" He asked, not looking up from the journal he was writing in.

"Yes! Well, we hope you can. Would you happen to have any weapons we could use? We're on a mission to save this land from the dragon and overthrow the king."

The man chuckled. "Really?" He looked up, his eyes cloudy. The man was blind, and yet he was looking straight at them. "I doubt you'll be able to pull it off..." He paused, then smiled. "But I like you. I've got some weapons for you three. Go two shacks over and look under the loose floorboard. Hopefully that can help you."

"Thank you," Clara said gratefully. She turned and went two shacks to the left, far from where the other two girls were. There was no door – it was probably blown off long ago – so she walked straight in. The Doctor and Niko waited outside since the shack was very small. There was a floorboard missing in the corner, and Clara walked over to it. She stuck her hand in, trying not to think about spiders and bugs while doing so. She felt the cool touch of metal (but not before feeling some cobwebs as well) and grabbed it. She pulled up two swords, and she knew there was another one down there as well. She grabbed that one too, then hurried out, swords in hand.

"Here," she stated, holding out one to Niko, and another to the Doctor. Niko took his eagerly. The Doctor was somewhat hesitant, but he knew they had to fight in order to save everyone. Besides, it was all a game. Nothing was real. Right?

He hoped so.

Clara held her own sword, and she, like the Doctor, wasn't as sure about this as Niko was. "We gotta fight this dragon! This is gonna be wicked!" Niko exclaimed. It was like he'd forgotten what was at stake here.

Suddenly the ground started shaking like there was an earthquake. No one knew what had caused it, but it was clear as day what happened once the dust cleared.

A thirty-foot-tall dragon covered in green scales towered above them, smoke coming out of its nostrils.

"Oh my God," Niko said quietly. The whole "fighting dragons and being heroes" thing suddenly seemed a lot less fun than it did before. Fire blazed from the dragon's mouth, setting the wooden shacks aflame.

Niko stood up and so did the Doctor. Clara was right behind them. Between death and killing a dragon, they all would choose the dragon-slaying. There were people to protect, after all. And they weren't the type of people who'd let innocent people die if they could help it.

The old man and little girl were no where in sight, and the other girl was standing not far away with her sword drawn. The dragon let out a mighty roar and with a sinister glint in its coal-black eyes, it drew back its head. It was about to strike at any moment.

But then, inexplicably, its tail started to fizzle away. The dragon suddenly looked very pixelated, like an old video game from the 1990s. Everyone looked at each other, confused. Then they noticed everything was starting to lose focus.

The game was crashing, and no one knew how to stop it, or what that meant for the players.

There was a loud scream, and then everything went black.

Clara, the Doctor, and Niko were back in the dome, on the stage. The monitor that had previously had the game start screen on it was now broken in half. The audience was in chaos, and it was clear that someone had gotten past Dia and broken the monitor, getting the three out of the game. But the scream hadn't stopped; in fact, it was even louder than before. They looked at Dia, the source of the scream.

"I finally had them, and you ruined it!" She screeched, looking at a girl with short blonde hair and black thick-rimmed glasses. She looked very, very angry.

"They were about to die!" She shouted back. "I wasn't about to let that happen! You must be a heartless beast!"

Dia shoved the girl away and strode over to the three. She had regained her composed and calm stature and was deciding what to do about the nuisances that were the Time Lord, his companion, and a teenage boy.

"So, you're going to continue being a thorn in my side, hmm?" She said, glaring at them. "Well, I'll have to get rid of you somehow. And you must have figured out by now that I'm not human. And if you haven't figured out that I'm trying to take over the world, well, news flash: that's what I'm doing." Dia cackled evilly, but stopped when the Doctor stepped up to her, far from pleased.

"Why?" He asked. "Why take over the world? What are you trying to achieve?"

Dia fell silent. Then, of every reaction she could have had, she laughed. Laughed and laughed, like it was the funniest thing she'd ever heard. "Power!" She said. "What else is there? It's all about power, dear. What are we without it?" She finally calmed down enough to finish off seriously. "Not much, I'll tell you that."

"Dia?" Niko said, catching her attention. She looked at him, not sure what to expect. "Look, at first I was really excited for this game. Everyone was, based on the turnout for this thing," he said, gesturing to everyone else in the room. "But really? Taking over the world? If I've learned anything from video games, I've learned this: taking over the world works best with an army. You've got a video game, but I'm not seeing a bunch of armed soldiers coming at us with all they've got. There might be tough monsters in the game, but those aren't real life. You don't have an army. Another thing I've learned: it almost never works. Your plan will always be foiled by the hero." Niko looked back at the Doctor, Clara,and the blonde girl. "And it seems like we've got a couple of heroes here."

"QUIET!" Dia screeched, looking about ready to explode. Robotic guards that were previously standing at the doors were now dashing towards the crowd, ready to fight. Dia stood menacingly, shouting orders at the robots.  
>"What do we do?" Niko fretted. His confidence had faded from his little speech and now he was actually quite scared.<p>

The Doctor scanned the area, trying to find something to fight back with. Then Clara's face lit up. "Niko, where's the fire alarm?" She said. The Doctor looked confused for a second, then realized what Clara was getting at.

"Right!" He said, looking up at the ceiling where sprinklers would spray water if the fire alarm were pulled. "That might just work!"

Niko grabbed Clara's wrist and pulled Clara over to a wall where the fire alarm was. With a swift motion of her arm, she pulled it and sirens blared almost immediately. Water sprayed down on the robotic guards, and electric sparks flew from the joints as they began to shut down. Dia was outraged. There wasn't much else she could do; her game was broken and her robots disabled.

"This won't be the last you'll see of me," she snarled, then disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

There was complete silence for the next few seconds, but soon enough everyone was thanking the Doctor, Clara, and Niko for saving them. The doors were unlocked, and even though everyone was a bit confused as to what really happened, they were happy to be alive.

"I think I've had enough of the future," Clara said. "I'm sure there are more planets to look at besides Earth, right?"

"Of course!" The Doctor said. "Although I don't know what planet she was from... well, if we find her again, maybe we'll find out."

"Hopefully defeat her for good, too."Clara said, then walked ff in the direction of the TARDIS.

"Wait!" Niko shouted. "That's it? You're not going to stay? What if she comes back?"

They were standing outside the TARDIS now, but Clara paused before going inside. "I'm sure we'll be back here if there's trouble," she said reassuringly. "But we really have to go."

"What is that thing anyway?" He asked, looking at the TARDIS. "I've never seen anything like it."

The Doctor opened the door and stepped inside. "It's a time machine, to put it simply," he said. Before anyone could object, Niko stepped inside and a look of awe crossed his face.

"Whoa... it's... it'd bigger on the inside!" He exclaimed, looking around in amazement. "This is so cool!"

Clara laughed. "Everyone says that, don't they," she said, referring to Niko's observation of it being bigger on the inside. The Doctor nodded, smiling.

"This is freaky..." Niko said. "What are you anyway?" He asked the Doctor. "You know what? Never mind, I don't want to know what kind of weird alien you are." He stepped back outside, letting Clara enter. "But still... thanks for saving everyone, I guess." He looked down at his shoes, then back up. "Will I ever see you guys again, or should I act like you never existed?"

"You might see us again. You never know!" Clara smiled. "So keep this adventure in mind." The Doctor smiled too, and Niko said, "Okay. Thanks again." Then he gave a tiny wave, and the Doctor closed the door to the TARDIS. He grabbed a fez that was sitting on the control panel. He'd forgotten he'd left it there. He placed it on his head, then pushed some buttons. And then with a _whoosh_, Niko watched the TARDIS fade from sight.


End file.
